ATLANTA AREA — Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, was arrested Monday and charged with two counts of malice murder, aggravated assault and firearms violations after a series of shootings near Atlanta left two women dead and a man in critical condition. Abel, a native of the United Kingdom who was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022, was taken into custody during a traffic stop in Troup County, which borders Alabama.

The attacks began at around 1 a.m. Monday, when a woman was found with multiple gunshot wounds near a restaurant in the Decatur area and later died at a hospital. About an hour later, a 49-year-old homeless man was shot multiple times outside a grocery store in Brookhaven, an Atlanta suburb about 12 miles northwest of the Decatur area. He remains hospitalized in critical condition. "It is apparent to us that it was a completely random attack on a member of our unhoused community," Brookhaven Police Chief Brandon Gurley said. Investigators determined that the three attacks were connected, he said.

Just before 7 a.m., officers responding to a call found Department of Homeland Security employee Lauren Bullis with gunshot and stab wounds in Panthersville, more than 10 miles from the first attack. She died at the scene. Bullis, who was walking her dog at the time, served as an auditor in the Office of Audits and a team leader in the Office of Innovation at the DHS Office of Inspector General.

DHS posted a statement saying Bullis brought "warmth, kindness, and a genuine sense of care to her colleagues each day." Ashley Toillion, a DHS auditor who met Bullis at a work conference last year, said the two had bonded over running and planned to do a race at Walt Disney World. "You couldn't meet her and not be her friend," Toillion said. "She was just the nicest, sweetest, most encouraging person I've ever met," she added.

Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin posted a statement noting that Abel was granted citizenship in 2022, during President Joe Biden's term. "These acts of pure evil have devastated our Department and my prayers are with the families of the victims," Mullin wrote. He said Abel has a criminal record that includes a sexual battery conviction and that since President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has worked to ensure that people with criminal histories do not attain citizenship. Under U.S. law, people convicted of most violent felonies are barred from becoming citizens.

Court records show that Abel pleaded guilty in California in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person when he was stationed at Naval Base Coronado. He had enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2020 and last served in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado. Abel waived his initial court appearance on Tuesday. Efforts to reach his attorney were not successful.